I'm trying to see if anyone would be interested in fielding a race team for the 24 hours of Lemons @ Thunderhill Raceway in September.

It's a long way off, but in order to find a car and get it running/race ready takes awhile. I'm looking for co-drivers and/or mechanically inclined folks to participate.

The general rules are you cannot spend more than $500 bucks on the car itself, not including safety equipment so the investment is fairly minimal.

I need a minimum of 3 co-drivers and preferably 4/5 since a twenty four hour race is a long time. I can find the car and pay for it, but I'd like input from the team on type of car. It doesn't have to be a BMW, anything that runs works.

I would need assistance on sourcing parts, installing parts, installing roll-bar, removing and disposing of non-essential components, etc. Basically helping to build it, and if you had garage space for it you might save me from having my wife scream about garage space all the time.

I'm in Sacramento, so preferably folks that are close to me.

PM me if you like or if anyone has ideas about how to pull this off let me know. Places to get cheap safety equipment, parts, tires, brakes, etc. I'm guessing pick and pull for a lot of stuff, but who knows.

They have races all year long, but I'm shooting for the September 14th race @ Thunderhill to start or maybe if things come together June 29th @ Buttonwillow, but it's gonna take awhile to build the car and get enough co-drivers.

I think I have a potential car. It's a 99 BMW 323ic with a non working top and some brake issues. All of which should be fine since I'm going to gut and cage the interior and brakes are not included in the $500 limit. I have some nice Apex wheels that have the right bolt pattern, but not sure about the offset. I suppose since it's a racer I could cut the fender to fit the wheels.

If you guys are at all interested other teams are looking to fill spots for drivers at races as soon as March @ Infineon/Sears Point. Most teams want you to pay your entry fee and have your own suit, helmet, shoes, etc. but other than that you just show up and participate.

OP, you don't want to try to cut cost in the safety department. Unless you are really experienced with building cages, I would highly recommend getting the cage done at Evil Genius since you are in Sacramento. Lemons is strict about safety (which is a good thing), and the folks at Evil Genius also just happen to do the safety inspections for Lemons races. We tried to do the cage on our own, but it would have failed and Evil Genius ended up doing our cage over. It's just one less thing to worry about, and it's not really any more expensive.

FYI, I would think that you would be sweated during BS inspection if you show up to race in an e36. BS inspection is where they assess the vehicle's value, and if they think you are over $500, you could get penalty laps, even if you have a properly documented $500 car (which really should be possible with an e36). There are some really talented teams though, so it takes a quick car that gets through BS inspection without penalty laps and doesn't break, good pit stops and driver changes, and good drivers to be competitive. Most importantly, it takes a clean race (no spins, stay on track, don't hit anything, don't pass on yellow, etc.). So, depending on your capabilities, if you want to run an e36 and your only goal is to have fun, then go for it. But if you're worried about penalty laps, you might want to think about picking a car that is a little more low profile.

Also, you might be surprised how much a $500 race car ends up costing...

OP, you don't want to try to cut cost in the safety department. Unless you are really experienced with building cages, I would highly recommend getting the cage done at Evil Genius since you are in Sacramento. Lemons is strict about safety (which is a good thing), and the folks at Evil Genius also just happen to do the safety inspections for Lemons races. We tried to do the cage on our own, but it would have failed and Evil Genius ended up doing our cage over. It's just one less thing to worry about, and it's not really any more expensive.

FYI, I would think that you would be sweated during BS inspection if you show up to race in an e36. BS inspection is where they assess the vehicle's value, and if they think you are over $500, you could get penalty laps, even if you have a properly documented $500 car (which really should be possible with an e36). There are some really talented teams though, so it takes a quick car that gets through BS inspection without penalty laps and doesn't break, good pit stops and driver changes, and good drivers to be competitive. Most importantly, it takes a clean race (no spins, stay on track, don't hit anything, don't pass on yellow, etc.). So, depending on your capabilities, if you want to run an e36 and your only goal is to have fun, then go for it. But if you're worried about penalty laps, you might want to think about picking a car that is a little more low profile.

Also, you might be surprised how much a $500 race car ends up costing...

Yeah for sure I've been told about 5K is a good estimate to build the car. I wouldn't dream of trying to do the cage myself since I'm not keen on failing safety or dying in a crash, so that's 1500 maybe 2000 right there. I'm sure I'd be a little over on the cost since I paid 1100 at the salvage yard and there is probably only 4-500 in parts that I could sell. I'd be happy if I could get the actually value @ 1k. I'm not sure how many laps I'd have to give up, but after one race I'm pretty sure they'd see how un-fast a 323 with a slush box is and I'd be ok in any race after that. Unless it breaks then it'll be one and done.

I'm going to do a couple of races before then to try and get a feel for whether I can rope people into splitting the cost of the build or whether I should just scrap the car and try a different car.